Rosemary Cookies with Tomato Jam

For a recent gourmet club, we were charged with making something from locally garden and market grown ingredients. I spend most of the summer cooking this way, so I decided to pick something that is far from my normal food fare. 

I almost never bake. If you know me, you know I have a tendency to burn myself whilst taking things in and out of the oven. Also, with only my hubby and I at home and most dessert recipes making 10 or more servings on top of our lack of self-control, it isn't usually a good combination.

I found a very well rated recipe for Rosemary Cookies on epicurous.com from a cookbook by David Lebotvitz.

These cookies were delightful! At gourmet club they went fast and they were proclaimed the winner  (note it isn't a competition). Try them out and enjoy.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup stone-ground yellow cornmeal or polenta
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 4 tablespoons finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
• Tomato Jam (Hubby will blog this b/c he made it)

In a small bowl, mix the flour, cornmeal, and salt.

Seperately, in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugar on medium speed just until smooth. Mix in the egg yolks, then the rosemary.

 

Add the flour mixture and mix until the dough is smooth and holds together. 

On a lightly floured work surface, divide the dough in half. Shape each half into a log about 6 inches (15 cm) long and 1 3/4 inches (4 cm) in diameter.

Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled and firm, at least 1 hour. I actually ended out lightly freezing them with very good results.
At this time, preheat the oven (we did this at an earlier time because our oven door doesn't hinge shut so it takes hours to pre-heat) to 350 with racks in the bottom half of the oven.
Also, line 4 cookie sheets with parchment paper. Then wait for the dough to finish chilling because it needs to be cold and hard to be sliced.

Take one log out of the freezer at a time. As they warm, they are more difficult to work with.Slice the logs thin. The disks should be 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. I experimented a bit with the thickness, but really tried to slice it as thin as I could while still getting cookie shaped results.

These cookies don't expand much while baking so you can place them close together (at least 1/2 and inch apart) on the prepared baking sheets.

Total bake time in 12 minutes. However, set the timer for 6 minutes. After 6 minutes  you need to flip the cookie sheet. I was able to maintain an assembly line where I was slicing and filling a cookie sheet while one was baking on its final 6 minutes and another was on its last 6 minutes and I just kept rotating.

Cookies are done when slightly tan around the edges.

Let the cookies cool. Then it is time to add the magic to these delicate cookies:

TOMATO JAM!!!

This is a spicy sweet jar of deliciousness. Hubby will blog how he made it soon.

Spoon a small amount of jam onto a cookie and then top with another cookie for a sandwich of pure deliciousness.

YUM!

Stuffed Zucchini Blossoms

We got these lovely zucchini blossoms at the Unidale Mall Farmer's Market for $1.  Yes, we have zucchini blossoms in our garden, but I didn't have the heart to abort the future zucchinis.


We brought them home, put the bouquet in water and quickly learned that they have an extremely short shelf life (use day of picking, not next day). So we went back to the Unidale Farmer's Market and got another bundle and we were off. John made delicious, and entirely unhealthy zucchini blossoms stuffed with herbed goat cheese and then fried. This resulted in a dish that would put any MN State Fair Food to shame.

 I used the fresh herbs that were ready in our garden - basil, oregano, flat leaf parsley and a few sage leaves. Finely chop the herbs and one clove of garlic, mix with about 6 oz of softened goat cheese.

Prepare the batter - mix 1/2 cup of flour, 1/8 cup of corn starch, 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of pepper

 Mix in 1 beaten egg and 1/2 cup of beer.

  I used Agunita's Pale Ale and found that it made an excellent tasting batter coating. Any quality beer will work, but may have variations in flavor. Mix well.

 Spoon 1/2 Tablespoon to 1 Tablespoon of the herb goat cheese into the center of each blossom. Fold the leaves over the center, overlapping one another, to form a packet. Trim the stem to about 4 inches.

 Dip the stuffed blossom into batter and roll to coat thoroughly.

 I used a wok filled with about 2" of canola oil. Heat until a cube of bread browns in 10-15 seconds. Carefully slide a battered blossom into hot oil, being careful not to splash.

 Be careful not to overcrowd the pan. After about a minute, flip the blossom (using tongs) to fry the other side.

 After about 3 minutes total cooking time, when both sides are crispy and lightly browned, use tongs to remove the blossom from oil, transfer to a plate with a layer of paper toils to drain.

 Eat while these are still warm. These are little packets of heaven!
 The delicate zucchini bosoms have a lovely flavor. we look forward to trying them in other recipes.

Snow, Snow,and More Snow!

Garden is buried in feet of snow. It is hard to believe that life will ever fill its' white baron landscape.

In the spring, long dormant seeds will spout again and plants will rise from once frozen soil. The cycle will begin again.

Until then, all is white and I have nothing to write about.

Marriage Announcement

Marriage Announcement

Doesn't relate to anything, but I love my hubby.

Purple Quiche!

This is just your basic quiche recipe with an extra special twist. It was made with some beautiful, royal purple cauliflower. The results were eye catching and delicious.

I tried to grow purple cauliflower this year, but I planted it too late. It takes much longer that its white and orange counterparts to develop. Still, I wanted to see how the color held up to being baked, so I picked up one at the local farmers market for $3.

I followed a pretty basic recipe.

Fill pie shell with veggies:

Mix eggs, half and half, fresh ground pepper, spices.

Pour mixture over veggies, top with cheese and bake. Then cut and eat. Bon Appetite.

This would be great addition to a MN Vikings football party. However, I think the best use for this is to get kids excited about eating there veggies. Never underestimate the power of novelty.

We Don't Know What Were Doing

Weeds, Weeds and More Weeds!!!

Honestly, I didn't know what were plants and what were weeds until it was much too late. Here is my pile of weeds from my garden and I'm not where near done. WE HAVE NO IDEA WHAT WE ARE DOING! Despair. And I'm pretty sure I accidentally weeded some of my phlox.

Last year, we had all new soil. Only the morning glories were able to sneak there way through the layer of soil we added to fill in the hole where a garage once stood. This year is a whole 'nother story. Suggestions? I just cannot keep up with all this.

Canning

We thought about canning last year when we got an abundance of tomatoes at the end of summer. Instead, we made tomato sauces and froze them. However, we were left with an overstuffed freezer.

This year we thought of canning again, but it has been so warm (and we have no AC) that we didn't want to add too the heat of the house. However, the past couple of days the heat has been manageable...and my hubby has become a canning machine!


I cannot take any of the credit. He's in the kitchen canning right now. With help from a cookbook (recent gift from my mother-in-law) In the past three days he has canned:

• Pickles (cucumbers)
• Beets
• Beets and potatoes
• Beans (green and waxed)
• Cauliflower
• Peppers
  

I hope that this is a way to bring some of the flavors of local and garden grown food into the long Minnesota winter months.


We are looking for ideas and recipes. Please share!